CrimSL Distinguished Alumni Lecture and Awards Ceremony

Join us for CrimSL's inaugural Distinguished Alumni Lecture, "A Time of Emergency in Colonial India, Burma, and Siam (1914-1921)," with Renisa Mawani, Canada Research Chair in Colonial Legal Histories and Professor, Sociology, University of British Columbia!

The lecture will be presented in person starting at 6:30 pm. It will be followed by Q&A, and the presentation of CrimSL's 2025 Alumni Awards.

Renisa Mawani (PhD 2001) will receive our 2025 Distinguished Alumni Award, and Giancarlo Fiorella (PhD 2023) will receive CrimSL's 2025 Emerging Leader Impact Alumni Award.

 A reception will follow from 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm.

Register on Eventbrite to reserve your seat!

Abstract

What was the time of emergency in colonial India, Burma, and Siam? In this lecture, I address this question through a detailed analysis of the Ingress into India Ordinance. In September 1914, Lord Hardinge, Viceroy of India, signed an ordinance which granted local police and magistrates unprecedented powers to arrest and detain Indian men returning by sea from abroad. Though the ordinance was ostensibly aimed at suspected seditionists from Punjab, in its 7-year life, it was used widely to criminalize small-scale merchants and traders whose social and geographic mobility was thought to pose an economic and political threat to British imperial control. 

To document the violent and far-reaching effects of the Ingress, I offer a legal history through family biography. The protagonists of this story include four Muslim brothers from Gujarat – Umer, Mohamed, Ismail, and Sidi. The men who were cattle herders by caste, reinvented themselves as small-scale cloth merchants, living and working along the Burma-Siam border. Under the auspices of war-time security, the Ingress offered colonial authorities renewed ways to criminalize individual men, their families, and communities. The Ingress into India Ordinance, I argue, was not a response to a rise in legal transgressions but a reply to suspicions of an expanding anticolonialism. The Ingress marked a time of colonial emergency that granted colonial officials renewed strategies to criminalize mobility, fortify caste hierarchies, and to redraw maritime and terrestrial borders in ways that expanded British authority from India to Burma and Siam. What lessons, if any, does this time of emergency hold for our troubled global present?

About Renisa Mawani, speaker and recipient of CrimSL's 2025 Distinguished Alumni Award

Renisa Mawani is Canada Research Chair in Colonial Legal Histories and Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia, located on the ancestral and unceded territories of the Musqueam (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm) peoples. From 2022-2025 she was a Global Professorial Fellow at the School of Law, Queen Mary University of London. 

Renisa is the author of Colonial Proximities (University of British Columbia Press, 2009) and Across Oceans of Law (Duke University Press, 2018), which was a finalist for the U.K. Socio-Legal Studies Association Theory and History Book Prize (2020) and winner of the Association of Asian American Studies Book Prize for Outstanding Contribution to History (2020). With Antoinette Burton, she is co-editor of Animalia: An Anti-Imperial Bestiary for Our Times (Duke University Press, 2020). With Antoinette Burton and Samantha Frost, she is co-editor of Biocultural Empire: New Histories of Imperial Life Worlds (2024) and with Kristie Flannery and Mikki Stelder, she is co-editor of Oceans as Archives (forthcoming in Routledge’s Ocean and Island Studies book series, 2025).

Renisa is currently working on a short book, The Laws of the Sea, which will be the inaugural volume in a new Cambridge Elements Series titled “Law and Humanities” and a longer monograph, Enemies of Empire, which is a sequel to Across Oceans of Law.

About Giancarlo Fiorella, recipient of CrimSL's 2025 Emerging Leader Impact Alumni Award

Dr. Fiorella is the Director of Research and Training at Bellingcat, an award-winning digital investigative journalism NGO. At Bellingcat, Giancarlo has published on police violence, war crimes and other atrocities.

He is also an Assistant Professor at the Global Justice Investigations Lab at Utrecht University, where he teaches digital investigative research methods. 

About CrimSL Alumni Awards

The Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies is proud to acknowledge the outstanding contributions and achievements of our alumni. Our Alumni Awards, established in 2025, shine a spotlight on the importance of alumni involvement within the centre, the university and the greater community, and celebrate the accomplishments of our alumni.

The Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes a graduate from U of T CrimSL who has made significant and impactful contributions to the fields of criminology and/or sociolegal studies. It highlights a graduate whose scholarship, professional achievements, or community leadership reflect both individual excellence and the academic or public advancement of issues that address crime, law, or justice in our world. 

The Emerging Leader Impact Alumni Award recognizes a recent graduate of U of T CrimSL who has made significant contributions to civil society and social justice causes within the fields of criminology, sociolegal studies, and broader justice-related arenas. This award recognizes those whose vision, innovation, and commitment have had a transformative impact — whether through advancing critical research, shaping policy, fostering institutional change, or championing equity and justice in their communities. It celebrates emerging leaders who embody the Centre’s values by bridging academic knowledge and real-world application, inspiring others, and leaving a lasting mark on the pursuit of justice and social progress.

Directions

This event will take place at the Jackman Humanities Building, Room JHB100 on the main floor. The building is on the north-west corner of Bloor St. and St. George St. with the main entrance on St. George St. The building has no parking.

• TTC: St. George subway station, St. George Street exit.
• Parking: Google map showing parking options in the area. See also U of T Transportation Services for U of T parking details.

Photography & Videography

Please note that this event will be photographed. The lecture portion of the event may be video recorded, except for the Q & A. By reserving your spot for this event, you consent to be captured in photos and videos. By providing your consent, you also agree that the Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies retains the right to share these on its website and other media platforms. Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at crimsl.communications@utoronto.ca.

Accessibility

The Jackman Humanities Building main floor is accessible. If you have any access needs or if there are any ways we can support your participation in this event, please email crimsl.communications@utoronto.ca and we will be glad to work with you to make the appropriate arrangements.